Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government has a history of imposing high taxes in order to accumulate surpluses to make itself look good.

First, it was the EI fund and now it is the airport security tax. The government starts collecting this extreme tax on April 1, even though it has not yet hired any staff or bought any equipment and will not for many months.

We understand that over the next five years this tax will accumulate at least $1 billion more than is actually required. How can the Canadian airline industry survive this unreasonable tax?

Will the finance minister reconsider this ill advised airport security tax immediately before it completely destroys the Canadian airline industry?

Mr. Speaker, the split in the cabinet over the weak dollar is widening. Yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister again blamed our lack of competitiveness on a lack of investment by Canadian business, but the finance minister said that Canadian firms can compete even if the dollar rises.

Does the Deputy Prime Minister believe that Canadian business could compete internationally if the dollar returned to the 76¢ level it was at before the Liberals were elected and started driving down the dollar?

John ManleyDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations

Mr. Speaker, it is not the policy of the government nor has it been the policy of the government to drive down the value of the dollar.

The fact that Canadian firms can and do compete internationally, not just in the United States but in markets around the world, demonstrates their competitiveness. Of course if the dollar were to increase in value then they would need to be that much more competitive. My belief is that they are making many of the efforts that are necessary to accomplish that.

Mr. Speaker, the Deputy Prime Minister does not believe his government has been driving down the dollar, but just look at it from the time they were elected until now. Who has been driving it down, the Canadian public?

If the Deputy Prime Minister now believes that firms can compete with a stronger dollar, then why will the Liberals not take steps to strengthen the dollar by cutting taxes, cutting debt and cutting wasteful spending?

Is it Canadian business that is uncompetitive or is it the Liberal government, which has lazily relied on a low dollar rather than taking action to improve our productivity and our competitiveness?

John ManleyDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations

Mr. Speaker, all the measures we have brought in over the years, including the creation of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, increased spending for research and development, support for the universities in doing research and development, investments in science and technology, that party has opposed.

These are the things that governments have to do, including investing in education, support for post-secondary education and support for training and skills development. These are the things that governments need to do. Likewise, businesses, as we know, have to make the investments that are necessary in technology, equipment, training and innovation.

Mr. Speaker, this is amazing. Those members blame the Tories for everything that happened before they got elected and they blame everything on us since they got elected, but it is the government that has increased the debt by $34 billion, not the opposition parties.

In 1991 there was what the Prime Minister called his weak dollar policy when he was finance minister, and I will quote him. He said he used it to “bring Canada back into a competitive position”. The Prime Minister does believe in a weak dollar position. The Prime Minister and the finance minister have been making Canadians assume the position for the past nine years and we have not found it very competitive.

Does the Deputy Prime Minister admit that the weak dollar policy of the Prime Minister and the finance minister has been a failure that has undermined Canadian competitiveness?

John ManleyDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations

Mr. Speaker, this government has not had a weak dollar policy. This government has had a strong economy policy. We have seen a reduction in unemployment. We have seen the elimination of the deficit and the creation of surpluses. We have seen the reduction in income taxes, corporate and personal. We have seen an improvement across the Canadian economy, sector by sector, over the last eight years.

The history that we have of achievement and success on the economy is one thing that party wishes it could have had the ideas to bring about.

Mr. Speaker, if the government calls that success I would hate to see its failures.

On Wednesday the Deputy Prime Minister claimed that Canadian industry was at fault for Canada's 30 year decline in productivity, but here are the facts. Under the government's watch, we have seen decades of growth in program spending financed by increased taxes and deficits. We have seen decades of decline in foreign investment in Canada, decades of growth in federal government debt and corresponding decades of decline of the Canadian dollar.

How is it that the Liberal government cannot see that its failed policies of high taxation and high government debt are the main reason for the dollar's decline?

John ManleyDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations

Mr. Speaker, we have the lowest level of government spending as a proportion of GDP that we have ever had, or at least in 50 or 60 years. The changes we have brought about, including the reduction in government spending, particularly after the 1993 election, have been dramatic, with the largest reduction in program spending since demobilization after World War II.

Where have these people been? The achievements of the last eight years did not happen by accident. The drop in the unemployment rate, the accomplishments we have had in turning deficits into surpluses, the drop in interest rates and the boom in the construction industry: these things have not happened by accident.

Mr. Speaker, even alcoholics know that the first step to recovery is to admit that they have a problem.

Instead of blaming others, the Liberal government must own up to its failed policies of the last 30 years. For example, I want to quote that famous economist, our Prime Minister. “I have said many times that the Canadian dollar has to float downwards” he said in February 1978. In 1984 he said “I can personally live with a weaker dollar”. Now the Deputy Prime Minister is trying to blame Canadian businesses for the Liberal government's failed policies.

Why can the government not just take the first step to recovery and admit that the Prime Minister's policies were dead wrong?

John ManleyDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Crown Corporations

Mr. Speaker, he only wishes that our economic policies were a failure. He thinks by repeating the notion they are that somehow or another he will make it so. It does not work that way.

Furthermore, I do not accept the characterization of my remarks in the least. In fact, on the contrary, what I said was that as the Canadian dollar rises Canadian firms are going to need to make investments to ensure that they continue to be competitive. That is consistent both with an innovation strategy and with a stronger currency.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Public Works said he was relieved by the production of an incomplete document, which was hastily put together and turned over to him by Groupaction yesterday. These bits of reports prove nothing about the services supposedly provided to the department at a cost of over half a million dollars. This report is nothing but a hodgepodge of motherhood statements.

Will the government admit that this document suggests that the contract awarded to Groupaction was no more than a conduit for getting half a million dollars to friends in exchange for their $70,000 contribution to the Liberal Party of Canada?

Paul SzaboParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services

Mr. Speaker, the member is correct. Groupaction has located substantial portions of the report in question and has transmitted those to Communication Canada. Those documents also have been sent to the opposition critics for their perusal.

I want to assure the House that the minister continues to state that it is unacceptable that the report was not available and continues to be committed in a co-operative fashion to provide all documents to all hon. members.

Mr. Speaker, contrary to what the parliamentary secretary has said, Groupaction says it provided the department with three copies. It was not just one copy which was supposedly lost, nor two, but three. Losing one copy is a concern, losing two is irresponsible, but losing three is pathetic.

Does the government seriously think that it has convinced us of its good faith with this scenario right out of a B movie?